In order to provide a television with a screen size greater than approximately 40 inches a display device other than a direct view cathode ray tube (CRT) is typically used. As the screen size of a CRT increases, so too does the depth. It is generally accepted that for screen sizes greater than 40 inches direct view CRTs are no longer practical. Three alternatives exist for large screen (>40 inch screen size) displays: projection displays, plasma displays, and Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs).
Current plasma and LCD displays are much more expensive than projection displays. Plasma and LCD displays are generally thin enough to mount on a wall, but can be heavy enough that mounting can be difficult. For example, current 42-inch plasma displays can weigh 80 pounds or more and 60-inch plasma displays can weigh 150 pounds or more. One advantage of plasma and LCD displays over current projection displays is that they are typically much thinner than current projection displays having the same screen size.
Projection displays, specifically rear projection displays, are typically more cost-effective then plasma displays. Projection displays may also consume too much space in a room to provide a practical solution for large screen needs. For example, typical 60-inch rear projection displays are 24 inches thick and can weigh 200 to 300 pounds.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art rear projection display device. In general, display device 100 includes optical engine 140, projection lens 130, back plate mirror 120 and screen 110. Optical engine 140 generates an image to be projected on screen 110. Projection lens 130 projects the image from optical engine 140 on to back plate mirror 120, which reflects the image to screen 110. The size of display device 100 is proportional to the size of the image to be displayed on screen 110. Thus, for large screen sizes (e.g., >60 inches), the overall size of display device 100 can be very large.
Fresnel lenses may be used to direct a projected image toward a viewer. Conventional rear projection display devices are thick because of surface reflections from the Fresnel surface. As the angle of incidence increases (on the flat side of the Fresnel) the amount of light that is reflected from the air-plastic interface also increases, reducing image uniformity. A person of ordinary skill in the art is familiar with calculating Fresnel surface reflections.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional rear projection display device 200 that is implemented with a Fresnel lens. Conventional rear projection display device 200 includes: optical engine 210, projection lens 220, Fresnel lens 230, and diffusion screen 240. The light impinging on the transmission surface of Fresnel lens 230 may be roughly symmetric with respect to optical axis 250. The use of such Fresnel lenses may generate light artifacts, such as stray light. These light artifacts may affect the quality of a displayed image.